How does a soldier, experienced in combat but untried in mountaineering, cope with the very different risks of high-altitude climbing? What makes a man, suffering from battle-fatigue and a stress-related virus, join an Army expedition to climb the world's third-highest unclimbed peak (in the Chinese Karakoram)? What happens when Army 'rank' is abandoned and a team of mostly novice mountaineers ventures into one of the remotest and least explored regions on earth?
Few people have been put to that test in such arduous circumstances as Major Hugh McManners. In July 1982 he returned from the Falklands War after leading a five-man commando team on undercover missions, which won him a 'Mention in Despatches'. To combat a prolonged spell of post-battle depression he decided on a dramatic course of action: to join a ten-man British Army expedition, led by Captain Henry Morgan, to climb the 7500-metre Crown in August 1987.
Only three of the party had any high-altitude mountaineering experience; McManners himself had none. Appointed 'official' cameraman, he joined the group in Hong Kong and gradually got to know his colleagues on the long journey through China. In the event - after struggling with Chinese bureaucracy and a long trek on foot and camel - they failed to reach the summit by a whisker; but in the course of the trip the author learnt a great deal about himself - and about the stresses and frictions that can affect any mountaineering expedition.
Comparing the dangers of climbing with those of battle, the author assesses the individual-versus- team demands of both, and describes his own battle with the debilitating effects of M.E. (myalgic encephalomyelitis). He writes stirringly of the sights and sounds of China, the uncharted territory of the Karakoram, and the particular thrills of mountaineering. Crowning the Dragon is the record of an exceptional adventure - and of an extraordinary mental and physical challenge.
Illustrated with 24 pages of colour photographs